Rotomac case: IT Department files dozen fresh charge sheets; attaches 3 accounts

Rotomac Industries, a Kanpur-based pen selling company, defaulted on loans worth Rs 800 crore from five state-owned banks. Promoters Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul were arrested by the CBI in February. Rotomac had taken around Rs 3695 crores from consortium of seven banks. The company claimed fame in the late nineties with advertisements featuring Salman Khan and the tag line “Likhte-Likhte Pyaar ho Jaye”.

The Income Tax Department said it has filed a dozen fresh charge sheets against Rotomac pens company owner Vikram Kothari and his group for alleged tax evasion.

The Income Tax Department also attached three more bank accounts of the company as part of its latest action against it for alleged tax evasion.

With this, the total charge sheets filed against the group are 18 while a total of 17 accounts have been attached, officials said. "As many as 18 prosecution proceedings have been initiated against Ms Rotomac Global (Private) Limited under various sections of the I-T Act for various Assessment Years from 2010-11 to 2015-16," a senior official said.

Yesterday, the department had filed six charge sheets in the case. The prosecution complaints have been filed in a special court in Lucknow under various sections of the Income Tax Act, officials had said.

The taxman had earlier attached four immovable assets of the Rotomac group and its promoters in this case. It has also attached 14 accounts of the group in various bank branches in Uttar Pradesh.

These assets were attached to "recover outstanding tax demands" of about Rs 106 crore from the group, officials had said. The Kanpur-based group is being probed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged swindling of Rs 3,695 crore loan funds advanced by a consortium of seven banks.

The CBI had filed a criminal case against Rotomac Global Pvt Limited, its director Vikram Kothari, his wife Sadhana Kothari, son Rahul Kothari and unidentified bank officials based on a complaint from Bank of Baroda and conducted raids against them. The ED also registered a money laundering case against them.